Southern California -- this just in

L.A. parking ticket refunds can now be researched online

October 15, 2012 | 12:16
pm

Drivers who want to know if the city of Los Angeles owes them
a parking ticket refund can search for their names on a new online database.

The Department of Transportation's Parking Violations Bureau on Monday posted
the names of nearly 1,100 people who prevailed in their challenges of parking
tickets between September 2007 and August 2008.

The City Council voted last month to shift more than $56,000 in refund proceeds into the city budget without notifying those who were owed the money. Since then, council members have asked transportation officials to do more to let people know about the
refunds.

So far, the information on the new database is not always clear. One
entry says $360 is owed to a "resident" of Park La Brea, the apartment complex located in the Mid-Wilshire area. Another entry says $50 is due to an entity named "Progressive E." A
third said $100 should be refunded to "Yum Inc."
restaurant brands.

Bruce Gillman, spokesman for the transportation department, described the Park La Brea entry as "a mistake." He also could not verify that an entry for "William Bratton" referred to the city's former police chief.

Los Angeles has increased parking fines six times in the past seven
years, far outstripping the inflation rate during the same period. The refunds in the database were approved for motorists who challenged their fines during a session with a city hearing examiner, Gillman said.

Those who took part in that process had to pay their tickets up front. Transportation officials will post the names of people who received refunds since August
2008 next week.